diggerfoot
Humanity Hiker
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2011
- Messages
- 1,573
- Reaction Score
- 8,852
I've felt like I did yesterday afternoon, last night and into this morning.
The first was with the Dream Season, unexpectedly beating the Big East Blue Bloods of the eighties, during the regular season when they were the top ranked teams in the nation, culminating with that moment of winning the Big East championship. The ride would continue a bit, including a miracle shot by George, until that f*#^!%@ Laettner dagger, but the moment we first took ownership of the Big East away from the "Blue Bloods" .... ah, there's a reason why that's the one season referred to as the "Dream."
The second was our 1999 championship season. I for one thought we played even better as a team throughout the nineties than we did in the new millennium, but we had bad luck and a bad monkey on our back. The epitome of that decade was the Florida game. Like so often that decade we played a "neutral" tournament game on the opponent's home court. Even so, all we needed was the guy who once went 20 for 20 at the free throw line against St. John's to make a couple more and our path to our first FF was secure. I had confidence in our 99 team, so much so I desperately wanted to play Duke in the championship game that year, the Boneyard annals will confirm that. Yet defeating Duke was one thing, overcoming the fates that conspired against us from an injured Ricky Moore to playing North Carolina in North Carolina? Finally breaking through and winning in 1999 was the second "pinch me" moment in our now Blue Blood history.
Yes, Blue Blood. That's what this third "pinch me" moment represents. "Pinch Me" Step One: Supremacy in the Big East. "Pinch Me" Step Two: National Champions. "Pinch Me" Step Three: Get to the Final Four with a new coach tackling "against all odds" conditions. Together with the women's program, we are transcending from the "Program that Calhoun Built" to the "College Basketball Capital."
I used to look at what happened with the Big East and ACC as WTF?!?! Now I feel like the fates have turned (playing a Regional in MSG with Villanova as our #2 to get there? In a different way, WTF?!?!?!); they have been grooming us for the B1G all along.
The first was with the Dream Season, unexpectedly beating the Big East Blue Bloods of the eighties, during the regular season when they were the top ranked teams in the nation, culminating with that moment of winning the Big East championship. The ride would continue a bit, including a miracle shot by George, until that f*#^!%@ Laettner dagger, but the moment we first took ownership of the Big East away from the "Blue Bloods" .... ah, there's a reason why that's the one season referred to as the "Dream."
The second was our 1999 championship season. I for one thought we played even better as a team throughout the nineties than we did in the new millennium, but we had bad luck and a bad monkey on our back. The epitome of that decade was the Florida game. Like so often that decade we played a "neutral" tournament game on the opponent's home court. Even so, all we needed was the guy who once went 20 for 20 at the free throw line against St. John's to make a couple more and our path to our first FF was secure. I had confidence in our 99 team, so much so I desperately wanted to play Duke in the championship game that year, the Boneyard annals will confirm that. Yet defeating Duke was one thing, overcoming the fates that conspired against us from an injured Ricky Moore to playing North Carolina in North Carolina? Finally breaking through and winning in 1999 was the second "pinch me" moment in our now Blue Blood history.
Yes, Blue Blood. That's what this third "pinch me" moment represents. "Pinch Me" Step One: Supremacy in the Big East. "Pinch Me" Step Two: National Champions. "Pinch Me" Step Three: Get to the Final Four with a new coach tackling "against all odds" conditions. Together with the women's program, we are transcending from the "Program that Calhoun Built" to the "College Basketball Capital."
I used to look at what happened with the Big East and ACC as WTF?!?! Now I feel like the fates have turned (playing a Regional in MSG with Villanova as our #2 to get there? In a different way, WTF?!?!?!); they have been grooming us for the B1G all along.